with Tom Still

February 2015

02/23/15

I asked a top infectious disease expert at the National Institutes of Health the other day for his take on why some parents are choosing not to get vaccinations for their kids. His answer was simple enough: Those parents have no memory of why such vaccinations became a public health standard in the first place. They lack any firsthand knowledge of the serious, sometimes fatal, nature of the diseases in question.

02/16/15

Gov. Scott Walker’s dust-up over Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution began with what was essentially a non-answer. When asked about his views on evolution during his recent visit to London, Walker first responded, “I’m going to punt on that one.” He quickly added that evolutionary theory is a question politicians “shouldn’t be involved in one way or the other.”

02/16/15

Even in a city where partisanship is a way of life, there are glimmers of hope that 2015 will be a year in which Congress gets down to work on issues that drive the nation’s $1 trillion information technology economy.

02/09/15

Coming up with ways to pay for highways, ports, and other forms of transportation is a problem as old as the nation. Since the first toll road opened in Virginia in 1772, policymakers have struggled to keep up with the demands of people and goods in motion.